Chapter 43 Speed

The situation turned out in the worst way for Zayne, he couldn't take the gold and be forced to fight because he couldn't get out of the game. In the worst-case scenario, death and a serious penalty awaited him. Zayne had fought strong opponents before, but almost all of them were monsters, so this was his first time against such a dangerous man.

'Damn, I can't lose now.' Zayne said inwardly, clutching the hilt of his sword tightly, 'Fate won't protect me this time, so if I die I'll be in big trouble. Maybe I should try to run away. No... from the look of it, he's mainly using the wind, so he's fast.'

"You know, I'm even glad you came here." Hugo smirked, slowly stepping forward and running his finger along the blade of his dagger, "Now I know that almost anyone can get into my vault and you helped me get rid of the trash."

"Trash...?" Zayne was puzzled.

"Yeah, I'm talking about them." Hugo pointed to the corpses of the bandit guards, "They swore to me they could stop anyone, even if it was a knight commander, but they ended up losing to you. Tell me, were they even able to scratch you?"

Zayne shook his head, "Their deaths were instant, just like yours will be."

"Agh...? Aren't you being too cocky?" Hugo tilted his head in disbelief as suddenly his eyes went wide and he got goosebumps from the silhouette of scarlet wings behind Zayne.

Whoooooooooosh.

The wings made their single swing as Zayne turned into a flash, reaching Hugo with lightning speed. With an icy stare, Zayne aimed for Hugo's neck as his red sword almost met its target.

'Fast! I might not make it in time!' Hugo inwardly exclaimed as a current of wind appeared behind him, which seemed in part to become Hugo himself, moving a few meters to the side.

Crackle.

Zayne's sword left a wide cut in the cave wall due to the tremendous speed of his attack, a few sparks flew out as if from the contact of two metals.

"Shit... Now I see how you killed them." Hugo muttered with a dazed look, then he touched his neck and stared at the bloodied fingers, "Hah, a moment more and my head would be at your feet... This is so cool!" Hugo licked his fingers with an excited grin.

'Well... it turned out to be even worse than I thought, looks like he's as crazy as I am, just the opposite.' Zayne said to himself looking at Hugo in whose eyes there was no fear, only curiosity, 'Anyone else in his position would have been scared and would have acted more carefully, maybe run away at all, but he... He's a real walking problem that I had no luck running into.'

Hugo stepped forward as the wind flowed behind him again, making him several times faster. A moment later, a glint of metal appeared to Zayne's right, followed by a sharp dagger with Hugo's predatory gaze.

Zayne's pupils narrowed as he put up a block, defending himself at the last moment from Hugo's attack. The sword's sharp blade broke off several shards of the dagger flying in front of Zayne's azure eyes.

"That's not all!" Hugo exclaimed as the wind completely covered his legs, giving him a powerful momentum that was enough to toss Zayne aside.

Zayne landed easily, without loosening his grip on his sword. He stared intently at Hugo, while a thin streak appeared on his face from which drops of blood flowed.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "Looks like we've evened the score now. I was actually a little upset that you did my damage first, but I quickly fixed it." Hugo smirked as he placed the dagger on his shoulder.

"Blood... right? Well, unlike you, my blood can be a weapon for me." Zayne whispered, exhaling cold steam as he directed the point of the sword toward his palm, leaving a wide cut on it.

Zayne frowned in pain, but he didn't stop as he knew it might help him win.

'Agh...? What the hell is he doing?' Hugo inwardly muttered looking at the scarlet drops of blood falling on the crimson blade. A gleam ran through the sword as the red seemingly became more intense.

'I've already used one skill twice, so I seriously have to think about saving mana, but I can't help it.' Zayne said to himself as he directed mana toward his sword, covering it with a dense blue light.

"So you can do a lot more than you've shown so far, right?" Hugo said with a sly smirk, "Fine, the stronger you are, the more valuable it will be to defeat you."

Zayne remained silent until he looked at Hugo and said, "You think you can win? I might lose, but then the same thing will happen to you, so the best you can hope for is that we both fail."

"How scary, afraid afraid, but you don't know me well enough to say that. Look." Hugo shook his head before pointing to his eye hidden under the eyepatch, "Even then, I didn't lose. I doubt you're strong enough to inflict the same damage on me."

"We'll see." Zayne said calmly as he ran forward.

Hugo reacted instantly, using the wind power he became much faster which gave him the advantage in a direct confrontation. Hugo was completely confident in his abilities since he had thrown Zayne aside last time.

'What...? How is that possible?' Hugo's eyes went wide at the sight of Zayne's sword going through his dagger without obstacles, slicing it in two.

Crackle.

Part of the dagger flew aside as Zayne swung the sword once more, top to bottom leaving a wide cut on Hugo's chest from which dark blood gushed out.

"ARGH!!!" Hugo cried out in pain as his face twisted. He felt as if a terrible flame had burst upon his chest, he couldn't think of anything else but that, however, the bright glint from the sword aiming at him managed to make him instantly come to his senses.

Whoooooooooosh.

Before Zayne's sword should have pierced his neck, Hugo managed to bounce back, immediately grabbing the wound.

"You're fast and strong, but for the leader of a band of bandits your weapons are unusually low quality, or did you just not take me seriously?" Zayne muttered as he pointed the sword covered in various blood at Hugo, "Well, either way, you're already paying the price. You can't win without a weapon."

"Ahahahahaha!" Hugo suddenly laughed as he tossed the dagger aside, "I won't need this garbage anymore. Maybe you're right about something, I really underestimated you, but since you've already wounded me, I can use everything I've got!"

At the same moment, the ring with the black wing symbol shone brightly as a dagger with an eerie aura appeared in Hugo's hand. The dagger had a long, wavy blade with a deadly gleam running along its edges.

"Looks like it's time for round two, doesn't it?" Hugo smirked as he licked the blade's tip, "You've already used your trump card, so now it's my turn. Hahaha, this is going to be fun, I can feel it!"